We Are Social: Wednesday Wrap-up #231

News
dominic.carrico

Videos sliding into your DMs, like…

In attempt to close in on the territory of messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and Snapchat, Twitter has added the ability to capture and send video in direct messages. Users just hit the camera button to begin recording video and then can instantly send directly to friends, influencers, Kim Kardashian, etc. The move comes as no surprise seeing as the platform has been working hard to add new functionalities over the past few months. A new controversial algorithm, ‘moments’ feature, and other items have all been added amidst high-profile executive exits and a declining stock value. Just what types of videos users will DM each other remains to be seen… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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Make sure you read the (updated) fine print — Snapchat gears up for even more (or more targeted) ads

Two big words have been added to Snapchat’s newly-released guideline updates, which cite that the platform will now use customer information to “personalise the services by, among other things, suggesting friends or profile information, or customising the content we show you, including ads.” Basically, they tacked on “including ads” to the old guidelines and called them new. While we’re not surprised, we expect some to accuse Snapchat of selling out, seeing as they established themselves as an anti-ads channel for so long. Stay tuned to see how the Ghost attempts to balance its infamous anonymity with stringent advertiser demands…

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Chat improvements continue with Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger has slowly been adding to its functionality over the past year, including the addition of a new payments feature last May. This trend continues in a new partnership with Dutch airline KLM, which allows passengers to get live updates about their flights within their Messenger app. The user journey is fairly simple – after booking a ticket with KLM, a message thread will automatically open up, giving the person real-time updates on booking confirmations, flight status, and even delivering them their boarding pass upon check-in. Digital bookings are nothing new, but the added convenience of handling travel plans in a frequently used app is something that will be sure to please Facebookers and travel junkies everywhere.

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Sephora launches Chatbot on messaging app Kik

The teen favourite messaging app just got a bit more glamorous. Beauty retailer, Sephora, has entered the world of Kik messenger to directly communicate with its teen audience via a chatbot. So how does it work? First, users initiate a chat with the brand, which is shortly followed by a quiz to “get to know you.” It asks all the essentials – age, brand preference and the products you just can’t live without. After that, just a few short commands will allow the bot to serve you with relevant content, including how-to videos and product reviews. Unfamiliar with Kik? The messaging app is a favourite of its 275 million, mainly teenaged audience and has been rolling out some key new updates this year, including an in-app browser this past February. You can find more important stats and info on the challenger messenger app, here.

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Pinterest aims to hold on to users by adding new pin functionality

‘How-to’ content is so hot right now. Take Buzzfeed’s “Proper Tasty” for example, which makes stacking various junk foods on top of one another easy with simple Facebook videos and people are loving it. Now, Pinterest is getting in on the the action with the launch of its latest Rich Pin, the How-to Pin. The new pins provide step-by-step instructions for cooking, crafting, grooming and other Pinteresting activities and can be seen, followed and shared without directing users away from the platform. So far, the pins have launched in the U.S., France, UK and Germany on Android and web, and they’re free for brands (rather than individual users) to make their own. At this point, the feature hasn’t launched in Australia, but major global voices like Martha Stewart, Cosmopolitan and more are already #pinning the game.

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When it comes to search in Australia, Google is king.

According to market survey company Roy Morgan, Google absolutely dominated its main competitors Bing and Yahoo this past year. The survey sampled 50,000+ users and had some indicated that 16.9 million Australians over the age of 14 visited the search website at least once during a sample four-week timeframe. Even more impressive, Australians collectively spent 552 million hours searching through Google in 2015. C’mon guys, that’s a lot of time spent looking for cat videos.

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